Impboved distilling appabatus



J. A. COFFEY.

' Alcohol Still. I

No. 60,477. Patented Dec. 18. 18 66:

Witnesses, Inventor,

uestt ro WHOM IT MAY ooncsns:

t" nitrit mesons DISTIILING srrsm'ros.

' enna. GOFFEY, OF LONDON, ENGLAND,

I Letters Patent No. 60,417, dated December 18, 1866. r

anv seen: more a a tlgcst. some can in a s: a tip my Bo known that I, Jon's Ananess Cor-Far, of 17 Graccchnrch street, in the m London, Entlaudi" p m l i e i eer, have invented-or discovered new and useful Improvements in Distilling Apparatus; and 'I,

the-said JOHNAMBltOBRCOFFEY, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and in what "mahner the w s, i bsperformcihtobe particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say: 7 V

Th bj g and purpose of my said invention is to improve the construction and arran geiih ehtof apparatus for eil'ectingwhat is known as fractional distillation in such-manner that-in one andthesame apparatus*(when supplied with the substance or substances or thing to be distilled) different products, or diiisrent qualities of the same product'or products, arising at difl'erent stages of distillation, may lie-drawn o'il' atgi ven points of the apparatus, and'this without interfering with the progress of distillation or'thaarrangement oithe apparatus for any other product ortpreducts at buy other stage or stages, whereby I am enabled to effect f tion'al distillation in a safe and continuous manner in one-and the same apparatus; And such, my invention, is specially applicable and valuable in the distillation of petroleum, which e'onsistsof several volatile oils and heathen-substances, difierhig ads'srees e volatility, and which, for ce ain purposes to which they'ars applied, are required to be moreor less completely separated from each vother and from a substance of the nature of pitch. In the usual mode of conducting the distillation of petroleum it is put into an ordiniary still, to which the heat of a fire is applied, and when the temperature of the liquid in the still rises to about 180 Fahrenheit a volatile oil or spirit comes over, this being the most volatile constituent of thc petroleum, or that which hasthe lowest pointof boiling; and as the distillation proceeds, the temperature at which the distillation occurs gradually rises, and distilled products are obtained which are less and less volatile, until at last it reaches 500,

660, -more, at which the least volatile products, or those having the highest boiling points, are obtained. But whenthose heavy oils, as they are called, have been brought over by the application ofu high temperature,

there remains a residue of thick tar or pitch or coke in the still, which must be removed before'a fresh portion,

of the petroleum can be operated upon. "Now, my invention provides ellicient means by which the distillation can be continued without the interruption caused by the removal of the residual tar, pitch, and coke from the -atill, and by which the sevcral fractional products can be" obtained simultaneously and continuously. The

apparatus and arrangement by which I ebtain these results are also applicable and valuable in the distillation of other substances beside petroleum, where several products are required to be obtained by what is called frac .tional distillation.

As regards the nature of my said invention, whereby I ell'ectuate the objects and purposes aforesaid, I, have a boiler,-provided with a furnace or tire to heat the same. Or (in lieu thereof) I can adopt gas or -other heist generator, and if it be desired to provide for the conduct of the process c 'stil ation, with extreme regard to safety from explosion, I can place the furnace or fire in afield or open ground at a distance, and convey the heat through pipes or ducts to the apparatus. For keeping up the supply of the crude or raw material, or thing to be distilled, I make use of a tank or "reservoir, placed at such altitude and position that the crude'material to be distilled may (upon acting upon a stopcock or valve) descend by its own gravity into a coil in the boiler or it may be conveyed to be circulating, operating, or be operated upon in the apparatus when it is so arranged. This coil I either pass through a pyrometer-of great accuracy,'or I use such a pyromet'er, in connection with the said coil, in the manner shown by the drawing, and hereafter dpscribedin reference thereto. By the means of the pyromcter, so placed, in

a connection as aforesaid, I am en iblcd to read off" the exact degree of heat in the boiler with readines a d precision. From or near to thc pyrometer the 'coil'is produced or continued, and passes into a continueus fractional distilling chamber, or system of chambers, in direct communication with the boiler. This chamber, or

system of ehambers, is made up of an arrangemen of trays or partitions, in which the coil, laid fiat thereon,

is supported. The coil is continued from one tray or partition to another tray or partition, throughout the whole series or system, till it reaches the topmost, and there it discharges its contents; and as each tray or compartrnent isin communication with the one beneath, by means of a duct in the centre or other part thereof, should there be any accumulation of residuary material, or substance not volatillaed and passing elf-by the gilip pe, it will give all its most volatile parts, which will pass through the tube to the refrigerator. Aft''r passing over the whole length of the hot pipe lying in the zigzag channel of the upper distilling chamber, that which remains of the petroleum will pass through the tube into the chamber beneath, where it will be subjected to the action of a higher temperature, and will give oil such of its constituents as volatilize at this temperature, which as in the previous instance, will pass to the condenser of this chamber, and will constitute the second fractional product of the process. In this way the petroleum will puss from chamber to chamber, and be exposed to it gradually increased'tempersture as it proceeds, until it is so far deprived of its volatile plll'tthat it may be allowed to escape into a. suitable receptacle in the form of thick tar or fluid pitch. The number of uhnm'bcrs to be used as distilling chembcrs and as heating chambers, and the rapidity with which the liquid from the tank is made to circulate through the coil and the healing pipe, as well as the quantity of liquid passing from the tank,

must be so adjusted that the lowest distilling chnmber s'hall have a temperature oi not less than 500, and the .highest distilling chamber 'u temperature of not less than 190.. In the distillation of other liquids besides petroleum it may be necessary to vary the arrangement, so that the upper distilling chamber shall have the temperature required for the volutilization of the most volatile constituents, and the lowest the temperature required for velotilizing the least volatile of the required products, and these results can be regulated in the manner already indicated.

It will be readily understood that by increasing, withinccrtain limits, the rapidity with which the liquid from the tank is forced through the coil in the heating bath, andmadc to circulate inthe distillipg chambers, the amount oflheat carried into these will be increased, while by increasing the flow of the liquid from the tank through the apparatus, the heat will be more rapidly absorbed and tho'tempevature of the chambers reduced. The number of chambers used, both as distilling chambers and sshesting chambers, may be varied according to the nature of the liquid submitted to distillation and the nature of the required products, the object being to adjust the'arrang ement so that the liquid to be distilled shall be heated up to near the lowest point of volatilizat-ion in passing through the heating ohambers. In the distillation of petroleum and other analogous substances, such as coal tar, I prefer to use some of the least volatile of the distillcd'products of these substances for charging the heating bath, and also for. circulating through the coil and heating pipes.

These oils,.\vhilei used for the latter purpose, will be deprived of any of the more volatile oils they may retain,

and while deed for the former purpose they will give elf some of the less volatile of the oils or unctuous prorlacts, for the collection of which provision is made. But while in the cases referred to I prefer tooperate in the manner indicated, there are other cases in which, as already stated, it may betfound advantageous to use p fusible salt, or both together, in the heating bath, and in which either water or steam, used under pressure, or superheated steam, may be made to circulate through the coil and heating pipes. If water or steam be time used as the heat carrier. it will be necessary to modify the arrangement, to omit'lflze heating chambers at the top of the column, and to let the water or steam pass out from the heating pipe thrbugh i valve, by which the pressare, and thereby tbc'hcat, may be regulated. In the event of steam being thus used, the force-pump may be omitted, and the steam supplied directly from a steam boiler, either under pressure or otherwise. when heavy oil of petroleum, or other analogous substance, is used in the hot bath, and the same liquid'is made to circulate through the coil and pipes, the arrangement may be modified in the following way: The ,ciail why be omitted, and the force-pump may be made to force the liquid from thp upper part of the contents of the hot bath through the heating pipes, this liquid returning to the both, aud entering, in its partially cabled state, through a. pipe at the bottpm. I 1 y The modua opa'amli just described applies generally (as far as difi'erenccs oi'eonstruction will allow) to the apparatus shown by the drawing. as well as to the modifications ot' the apparatus lastly described.

What I claim in regard to the above-described invention of improvements in distilling apparatus are the improved constructions and arrangements set forth, in regard to the dis'tillatory portions of such apparatus, it being understood that I do not claim any of the mechanical details thereof per la and opcrt from the purposes if my said invention.

. ou s. A-JJQF Z Wi tncsses:

F. W. CA MPIN, 4 Ilfz'ddlc Temple Lane, Temple, 1]. 1]., London. Euxusr Du Puss, (i8 Flm Street, London. 

